The thorn-patch portion of the pre-Big Ten schedule for the Ohio State women’s basketball team ended on Sunday with a third consecutive loss to a third consecutive ranked team.

The defeats to No. 1 Connecticut, No. 8 Maryland and No. 24 Gonzaga left the Buckeyes somewhat tattered but upbeat heading into a game against Army tonight in Value City Arena.

An interesting byproduct accompanied the team on its run through the thistles. The Buckeyes are ranked No. 10 in the RealTimeRPI.com rankings with a No. 1 strength-of-schedule nod among the 349 Division I schools.

The Buckeyes nearly knocked off Gonzaga on Sunday, losing 59-58 on a last-second shot by reserve guard Shaniqua Nilles. The pain was magnified by how poorly the Buckeyes played in first half that saw the Bulldogs go on a 22-0 run.

The film session for those first 20 minutes had a Brothers Grimm feel.

“We were disappointed in our effort and our lack of focus,” junior guard Amy Scullion said. “What’s most frustrating is that when we are locked in we’re good enough to beat those teams. That’s a game that we should have won, and we should have defended our home court.”

The final 20 minutes showed a second-half rally that nearly included a happily-ever-after ending.

“It’s kind of exciting that we’re capable of playing at that level,” Scullion said. “We just have to make some changes to get there.”

A question remains. How close is this team to slaying even a small dragon?

“We’re right there,” Scullion said. “We’re finally learning how to play at a certain intensity level. Like coach said, we’re getting better each week. That was a tough week. We played three top-25 teams. Now moving forward, we can implement the changes we need to make.”

McGuff is making no claims that the Buckeyes are ready to reverse a 70-49 loss to a power like Connecticut.

“The first thing I’d say is that I think we’ve gotten significantly better from where we started,” he said. “That’s still the most important thing … that we continue to be a team that improves.

“I know that we’ve lost three in a row to great competition. But I like the fact that our players haven’t seemed dejected. They show up every day trying to get better. I hate losing as much as anybody. But through this three-game losing streak, we’ve done a lot of really positive things.”

McGuff especially likes the improvements that the team has made defensively. After the horrific start against Gonzaga, the defense improved.

“Our defense got us back in,” he said. “Then we started making more shots.”

Points have not come in bundles yet. The Buckeyes, at 67 points per game, are 11th in scoring in the Big Ten.

“We haven’t shot it that well,” McGuff said. “But we’re working on shots. We’re going to hope we hit in the game.”